New Amazon tracking system.

We set on back porch and use plane finder. We do see Amazon planes fly over. They are always a lot larger than the passenger jets that fly over our house.
An enjoyable way to enjoy the back porch during Covid-19.

In Feb. 2019 Prime Air had one of their 767 planes crash. They are getting so big, with so many flights, it was going to happen.

On my part of the planet. Southern Ontario Canada. Shipping from Amazon has gotten extremely slow. Not that it is a long time in transit. They just don't ship it for a long time. I am a Prime member and should cancel that. For all the good it does me. I ordered 2 Amazon 4K Firesticks on Saturday November 21th. I checked this morning November 26 and they have not shipped yet. Expected delivery Dec 3. I should have ordered it from Best Buy. Same price and would have got it to my door in one to 2 business days. They are always faster then Amazon. This was happening even before the pandemic. Once Amazon gives it to Canada Post. I will get it in 2 to 3 days.

It may be where you live. I am not on Prime but a truck comes to our area nearly every day. If I order something it is usually on the truck in a day or two. They must check all orders for the truck destination and put them on with the Prime orders.

Didn't know, I never seen one. I have worked (runway/taxiway construction) inside Philadelphia International Airport for a number of years, not constantly, but enough I might have seen one. UPS, FEDEX, even DHL, I've seen a few smaller private cargo carriers too.

Interesting:

My next thought would be ocean freighters, but it appears they have those as well.

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I'm with ya. Prime no longer means you'll receive your item two days after you order, guaranteed. It now means two days after they process, gather, box, and then ship your item. It's been that way for a while now, and it's getting worse. You really have to read the ad these days, no longer can you see the "Prime" logo and think you'll get it in a couple days.

Yet, they do have stuff you can order in the afternoon and have it the next morning, or even later that day.

Each year at renewal I wonder if I should, the only other Prime item I use is Amazon Movies, but that's maybe 3 or 4 times a year. To top it off most Amazon Prime items are higher priced than their non Prime counterparts. Even Walmart is doing good with the shipping now and normally cheaper to boot.

But, I always end up renewing for some reason, it is always the first place I look when online shopping.

I have prime and use it a lot. I Ordered AA Batteries on Tuesday and received them about noon on Wednesday Save good compared getting them local.

I use prime a lot as well. As much as I dislike the monopoly aspect of Amazon and how it has displaced local merchants, it is hard to avoid the convenience of being able to buy widely disparate products in a single order and get them in a couple of days. To get these same items at local merchants, you have to go to multiple stores, only to find that the exact items you want are not carried or out of stock requiring you search at different merchants or accept substitute products. And with COVID the added advantage of shopping safety is hard to beat. I don't have to wear a mask or worry so much about who I am coming into contact with when I order from Amazon.

On the tracking subject, I have noticed in the past year or so that when I include multiple items in an order, Amazon often splits it into multiple orders even when the entire order is delivered on the same day. I assume this is because of the decentralizing evolution Amazon in the way it warehouses and delivers products.

for a big part of the slowdown in Amazon delivery time. The pandemic has caused a huge increase in online shopping. I saw just today that Amazon has hired an additional 275,000 employees this year and is in the process of hiring another 100,000 temporary employees for the holiday season.

Another issue is the shortage of space for air shipments. Prior to the pandemic a fair percentage of air cargo shipped in the belly holds of passenger aircraft. With the passenger traffic dropping by about 90%, and planes parked as a result, the competition for space on cargo aircraft has become intense and the cargo carriers often lack space for all the packages.

- Tom -

Here's a case for Amazon, even though Prime is no longer a 2 day guaranteed delivery.

I placed an order from Walmart for an item that was $5 more at Amazon (Prime). Both places had the delivery time frame the same, about a week. Well Walmart uses the USPS and my item is lost in space at the moment, whereas Amazon, using their own trucks, most likely would have had my item here yesterday.

Amazon Air built a distribution hub here in Lakeland where I live at a regional airport that can handle passenger jets, but has not been doing so. Therefore Amazon jumped on the chance to utilize the airport and now flights go in and out all the time.

Here's a link to a story about it. I'm assuming they are doing this around the country for regional hubs now.

https://www.theledger.com/story/news/2020/07/23/amazon-air-a...

The active tracking system for Amazon must have either been a "trial balloon" in our area or they only have it enabled on a very few of their delivery trucks. I have received several orders from Amazon since I originally posted this thread and all of the orders were delivered by Amazon trucks from the Amazon hub out of Iowa City, but the only one that had the active tracking was the one I received on the day I posted.

A few thoughts, The only way you can track your delivery is to have the hack your email for Amazon order number, account, etc. Secondly, there would be no way to know the content or value of your package. To obtain all this info, thieves would have had to hack into your online Amzzon account through your computer, which if it occurred would cause you much further grief. And finally, it is much simpler for a thief to simply follow behind a UPS truck and observe deliveries as they are dropped particularly in more affluent areas.

@trianj

I was too quick to judge this, as my Amazon order that I received this afternoon had the active tracking map. The driver however did not take a picture of the delivered item like they did on the other active tracking delivery I received previously.

One thing I noticed is that on a normal delivery (not mapped), the tracking notice says something like "expected before 10 PM". When I clicked on the tracking notice for today's delivery, it had a more narrow window; "expected between 12:45 and 2:45 PM". As I checked on it throughout the day, the window changed a little ... at one point it said "expected between 2:00 and 4:00 PM". It was actually delivered at 2:36 PM. The mapping showed up about 15 minutes before it was delivered, showing 8 stops before me. It is really a nice feature.

but sometimes it seems that things that are at a good price are lost or used when they arrive. and you have to know the price.

For example, I got a garden hose $49.99 with a $20 off coupon, it was lost. But 3rd party seller so I couldn't get a replacement, just a refund. Wouldn't you know they are in stock at $49.99.

Then last Friday--same hose, "Lowest price in 30 days!" At $34. A bit misleading as my offer was $49.99 true, $20 off.

amazon definitely plays games with stock, as if the number going down is an incentive to pull the trigger--in stock, only 6 left in stock, order soon, OR, more on the way, then out and in stock blah blah blah or usually ships within 1 to 2 months. Is it truly that dynamic or is it marketing? What I do notice is from day to day hour to hour things that were supposed to be in stock in a few weeks, are fully in stock and available, which is why I think it's psychology!

Saw the other day, 82% of USA households are amazon prime members. What else is that high?

For the last couple of years most of my Amazon orders have started their journey to Albuquerque from Tucson, Phoenix, Dallas, or any of about four warehouses in California. Wherever they start, the next stop is Phoenix, then after that Albuquerque.

Amazon has provided a Postal Service tracking number, but the shipments do not start their journey on Postal Service trucks. The USPS tracking generally just refers to "shipping partner". Never in the past has this mysterious shipping partner been identified. I have assumed it to be either Amazon itself or Amazon contractors.

Just last week I ordered some plates through the Walmart website from a third party styling itself Outrageous Wholesale. The order was actually fulfilled by Amazon coming in the usual style from Tucson through Phoenix.

But for the very first time the "shipping partner" was explicitly identified as Amazon.

Probably back in the 20th century Bezos performed a slight-of-hand selling CDs. (Music CDs, not bank CDs.) The first time you looked up a particular CD in your browser the price came up $8. The second time $9. This was an early use of browser cookies and by deleting the cookies a user could switch the price back and forth.

This was the first time that I disrespected Bezos’ ethics.

Adjusting the price based on the customer was quite common on Amazon.ca. So assume it applies to .com as well. When checking for a price on my desktop. I would often get a higher price then using my tablet. The desktop is where I made my purchases. I once saw it 30% higher. As you said. If you looked at an item and did not buy. The price would be higher the next time you looked. If you wanted it. Then you had to wait for the email that offered the original price again. All that BS has seemed to have stopped. Likely found a less obvious way to manipulate the customer.

As I mentioned in a previous post about the Firesticks I ordered 10 days ago. They where shipped yesterday (Purolator). For arrival tomorrow. As it turned out my brother needed one too. So this time I ordered it from Best Buy yesterday. It was shipped yesterday for arrival tomorrow (Canada Post). Same price. From experience. Canada Post will be one day late.

A few years ago when looking for best price of flights I would find a good price but want to look elsewhere. When I went back the price was more. I found I could clear cookies and the price was down again.

UPS does that in our area

dishonest or anything, for me, the earlier days of internet shopping meant tax free. But amazon started collecting for states they had a physical presence in, so that meant avoiding them and going to the rock auto or eBay or etc. then of course after SD v. Wayfair, everyone collected sales tax. So now it's moot.

The interesting thing is SD v. Wayfair was barely 2 years ago--a slew of etailers collected sales tax prior the decision, and I AM WILLING TO BET THE LOCALITIES NEVER SAW A PENNY OF THE TAXES COLLECTED. To give you an example, I ordered from a Toyota dealer in Miami and they collected PA tax, in 2016 (trim pieces for a car, they do not have dealers in PA)....

Presuming that we are talking about the same thing,,, do you really think it's OK for Bezos to charge you $9 for the same thing that he sold me for $8? Circumstances unchanged?

Interesting thing is that way back when, amazon would issue a refund for the difference, if asked. They won't do that anymore--they would rather you return the item.

Some real examples--if this happened at Costco? Whatever the customer wants--refund of difference, full refund, refund 5 years later, they will accommodate. BJs warehouse? If you want the difference, return the item, and buy it again. DOH!

B&H Photo? Whatever it takes to make you happy. I bought a 2015 ThinkPad where the price dropped 5X in a month. I called 5X, and they refunded me the difference 5X. I even said sorry to call again, and the response was what do you have to be sorry about? If you see the price drop next week? You call me next week and we do this again. 5 stars.

To answer your question, yes, it's fine. Caveat emptor. But I hate to be the guy paying $9....

In PA we have what's called a 'Use Tax' you technically always owed the tax, no one I know of actually paid it.

That technically one is not allowed to buy alcohol cigarettes and fireworks out of state? I dunno I remember even as a kid people from MASS drove to NH to buy things. I was in WA for business 2 years ago, and was told they all go over to OR to buy things.

States often attempt to get something for nothing, but are not successful. I remember a case where a couple moved from New York State to VT. They paid sales tax on a new car purchased and registered in NY. They moved to VT who wanted tax again--huh? They said oh it's not a sales tax, it's a use tax. Well, VT lost as that couple was willing to go all the way to the scotus. So unfortunate, though, because so did SD. v. Wayfair.

You can buy smokes and booze, but under a certain amount. Not sure about the fireworks, law regarding those changed recently and I'm not up on it.

I installed this nifty LED shoplight that shines over my engine, no more flashlights etc needed. Has motion sensor and programmable for $20 lol

Anyway, I ordered an extension cord and some circle cable clips, with the order coming to about $15. It arrived via UPS 2nd day air, Dallas to PA. It's really befuddling understanding how amazon decides how to ship. And the extension cord (25' 16/3 outdoor) changes from $10 to $14 multiple times a day...

p.s. I don't think I will use that extension cord, I'll use a very lightweight one that costs about $5 and use the clips to secure to the joists, to neaten things up...

I received a recent order from Amazon (new Canon printer) and it was delivered by UPS instead of the Amazon truck, so there was no live tracking. UPS must be hiring some temps and using rental trucks for the holiday rush. The person who walked up to the door didn't have an official UPS uniform, just a slip-over vest with the UPS logo.

Amazon has a deal going with our local USPS. Probably in other locations as well. I often see the Amazon truck unloading at the post office. The order is shown as shipped by Amazon but arrives via USPS. No live tracking on these deliveries either.

It always surprises me when USPS delivers an Amazon order on Sunday.

I picked two of these up at Costco. I was not looking for remote etc., just an LED shoplight. The last ones I got have a pull chain, but Costco switched the vendor I guess--they had these for $19.99. As often happens at Costco, when I was looking, a woman says, "You want that. I just got them, they're great."

https://kodabuilt.com/products/koda-46-led-linkable-shop-lig...

Home Depot sells an equivalent product:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-4-ft-64-Watt...

I installed two in my shop 2 years ago at $19 each and they are still working perfectly.

I went in to buy two more recently and the price is up to $37. The clerk said they are so popular, they have a tough time keeping them in stock.

I like hanging them with included chains, and they are super lightweight being LED.

The new ones did not come with screw eyes (hooks), but the old ones did, and I had one old one unopened. So I borrowed the 2 that were in the box, and ordered 2 more from amazon at $1.08 each.

Well, when they arrived, they were about 5x or more the size of the ones I used! And designed for 190 lbs! lol So I still need some if I want to hang the other. These are way way too big..

I've really been getting stuff from amazon lately and nothing lost. Tomorrow I should be installing a cover for an outdoor outlet (it has a plastic clear door--old one has two tiny metal doors and been broken for years). I discovered that the breaker is a 15A GFCI already, and there's a 20A receptacle. So I will replace it with a 15A weather resistant one--total cost for this tiny project, about $14.

Thanks for the feedback. A check on CostCo website indicates they are $10 off for another week (more or less).

Was supposed to get a 15A WR tamper resistant Leviton receptacle on Saturday, USPS. It never came. Now I have to wait until Wed. to say I want a refund.

I told myself don't get mad, understand that x% of amazon products will be lost. If you want this part so bad, drive to The Home Depot and get it for more $$$.

I decided I wouldn't.

I put a new cover on the outside outlet, the kind that has a plastic door flip up and down, and I punched it out on the bottom for a cord. I was going to replace the receptacle because it's a 20A, but the circuit breaker I found is a GFCI 15A--so I just wanted it to be correct. It's been that way 18 years, so another 20 isn't going to hurt lol

Whether you like Amazon or not, you have to admit they're well organized. Just imagine all the planning that Amazon has to do to coordinate just the delivery phase of the business.
My wife has a couple of electronic things she purchased from Amazon and that she twice needed technical support on. Get this: she got online to Amazon and requested phone assistance. She pressed enter and within TWO SECONDS our phone rang and she had a live person to talk to. I don't understand the technology about how a phone call can be connected in two seconds but Amazon has it.

Since only you can track your package, I don't think risk would be increased, and I agree with a another comment that you would have the opportunity to alert a neighbor to save your package for you.

There is nothing wrong with using a 20 amp rated receptacle on a 15 amp circuit. You just can't use it to power a 20 amp appliance without tripping the 15 app breaker.

If the house wiring for that circuit is 12 gauge, and you need to use a 20 amp appliance, you could replace the 15 amp breaker with a 20 amp.

Duplicate

I hear you, meaning if a 20A appliance were plugged in, and it drew 20A, it would trip the breaker. I can't think of anything that I own that has a 20A plug. I did notice in my garage there are 2 quads, and no lie 18 years later lol I noticed one quad is 20A. Went into the basement and the breaker is in fact 20A. I know the seller of my house was a woodworker and used the garage as a shop.

I just used a RV 55A power supply to charge my car battery (think of it as 55A vs. a battery tender's 1.5A, 3A, 4.5A (I have all 3). But I went one further!

I bought this on amazon, and along the lines of the thread, it came in < 4 hours....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013PKYILS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

So now I hooked up my 55A power supply, this meter (cables all over as the negative has to flow through a shunt), and I watched. 13.22V at rest no power. Turn on power supply, car draws about 10A upon waking up, then drops. turn on ignition, 15A. turn on headlights, 20A. All the while the power supply was at 13.2V, meaning that's clean power. I know it has to be as RVs use these power supplies to power their 12V appliances and then to charge their batteries--but I just wanted to see it for myself. And really to see what the car demands when off--a forum member told me about 15A, and he was right. Think of it this way, when a car is in a dealer, and getting programmed etc., it's on a power supply--they will not rely upon the car's battery to support the ignition being on for extended periods. That's what I wanted to accomplish.

If I can figure out how to link photos I'll start a new thread and show it...the meter is more of a confirmation that I can now freely use the power supply. The idea is for programming the car with ignition on, it's plugged in and not draining the battery....

Very accurate..

It kept saying I was the next stop for over an hour as it made deliveries all around me

last two orders from amazon are USPS.

It was a disaster this holiday season.

A gift card that my son's godfather sent on 12/10 from Jacksonville, arrived yesterday.

It's interesting now, to think, I hope amazon ships with amazon, not UPS or USPS. Before, I preferred UPS (they are terrible today).

But what is interesting? My last order and one supposedly coming tomorrow, are huge items, and shipped USPS. USPS tracking is the pits--had an ebay item leave NYC 12/22 and disappear, and I notice when status changes, the previous entries are gone. To me, that's destroying the evidence of the mistakes made.

Anyway, I thought that amazon's own delivery would be best from their perspective....

edit--checked usps tracking, and they don't even have it, they are awaiting the item in Phoenix. I am in Phila. What's the over/under it gets here tomorrow? lol

honestly, I'd be paranoid as an eBay seller using USPS

Amazon announced on 01/05/2021 that they're buying a bunch of Delta and WestJet planes to help with their shipping issues:

https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/5/22215279/amazon-buys-boein...

From the article:
Amazon announced it purchased 11 used Boeing 767-300 jets from Delta and WestJet, a first for the e-commerce giant. The company has been steadily building up its air cargo capacity over the years through leasing agreements, but this is the first time Amazon has ever owned its own aircraft.

Phil

We have an expectation from amazon. Some things can come today. Others tomorrow. Rarely should anything be more than 2nd day. But they gouge on prices, like the weather cover for the outlet that I paid $10 for is $15 now. We also expect that.

But how about other cos? I ordered something from the big box orange home center store, that amazon doesn't have, before Christmas. Get an email that it arrived in the store the other day, but unfortunately it's damaged. Someone will contact you to discuss your options.

I paid for it when I ordered it. Want to know my options? Refund, or replacement, which would arrive around Jan 26, more than a month after it was ordered. What if that is damaged as well? yet this co. is thriving due to the pandemic!

I have now received many orders from Amazon using their live tracking system. It is kind of interesting to observe how the time window on the tracking status message changes on delivery day as the day progresses. When you check "See all updates" on the tracking page, you can tell when the package has arrived at the nearest Amazon delivery hub (in my case it is Iowa City), then when the message "Out for Delivery" gets added, the tracking message will then change to "Expected today by 10PM". An hour or so later in my case, a time window will usually appear ... something like "Expected today between 11 AM and 3 PM". As the day progresses, the time window changes ... usually becoming later in the day, such as "Expected today between 2 PM and 6 PM". Later, when the truck is near my house (usually 15 minutes or so before delivery), the tracking screen changes to a map showing the exact location of the truck and the number of stops before my house.

The pattern I have noticed is that the first time window is usually optimistic, being 2 or 3 hours earlier than the package will actually arrive. Then as the day goes on, they push the window later and later. It makes me think their algorithm that calculates the amount of time required for the driver to drop off a package is more aggressive than the truck driver can actually accomplish. I have observed the driver on a dead run going from the truck up my drive and back to the truck, apparently trying to make up time.

It makes me wonder how the drivers are paid and how they are treated by Amazon. Do they get paid by the hour, by the route, by each drop? Do they get docked or demerits for running over the estimated delivery time?

Even with the map tracking the delivery truck, my notices all say 'Delivery by 8 PM."

the time I was waiting for an auto part, it was accurate. Yesterday was similar, accurate, with amazon delivery.

My understanding was these could be contractors even if they have a Sprinter van, I could be wrong.

Again a hunch, they're not paid as well as USPS or UPS.

Just saw an article on USPS saying they can not meet demand and are not surprised when things are 1 month behind. It's always been a myth that USPS is not for profit, they're for profit. They have bad decision making.

In 2015, the Grateful Dead sold mail order tix where payment had to be made via USPS money order. The demand was unprecedented and something like 10% of orders were fulfilled, meaning 90% of USPS money orders had to be refunded. Anyone remember wondering what's going on, the lines are out the door (think back, this is about 6 years ago)? One cannot help but feel for the clerks in these situations, and it's not like managers open up new registers to handle the overflow.

Right now, amazon seems to be the best bet for amazon deliveries, imho...USPS is unreliable and UPS is so-so as is FedEx...I've had 3 items requiring adult signatures, none of them collected one. Ditto with me sending out something for work, no signature, one that was made up, delivery lost, claim closed. Not good.

I think it's not good to be an eBay buyer or seller right now since USPS is preferred....I had an item sent 80 miles that took 3 weeks. I was thinking if I were the seller this is a pita....

USPS definitely has problems that are ongoing even after the holiday crush.

I ordered an expensive item from Amazon on 12/8/20 with Prime 2 day shipping. It arrived today exactly 6 weeks from the order date!

Amazon shipped it using USPS from a warehouse in NC to my home in PA. USPS tracking showed it bouncing around from location to location all over the east coast for 2 weeks. It arrived in Philadelphia on 12/22/20 and sat there for 1 month.

I filed a lost package claim with Amazon but was told I had to deal with the seller directly. The seller said it was delayed shipping and would not process a refund or ship a replacement. It turns out he was right but 6 weeks is simply ridiculous!

To add insult to injury, four Christmas cards arrived along with the "lost" package!